Welcome

Hello, my name is Dionne and I have been crafting for a very long time. As a very young child my mother tried to teach me to knit, it was a disaster. However, it must have sparked an interest in making things and, partly to prove that I was not totally useless and partly because I really wanted to make things, I taught myself to crochet. Over the years I have developed a love of cross stitch and all types of paper craft ..... I eventually even taught myself to knit.

I am married to a very understanding man, thank goodness, because I spend all my time either crafting, thinking about crafting or talking about crafting. I am hopeless at housework and dinner is often late!

Monday, 29 April 2013

I have used one of the new Saturated Canary rubber stamp range from the Crafty Boots on-line store. This lovely design is called Gardener Gayle and I could not resist including I whole hedge of roses.

The image is mounted on silver Glimmer Paper from Stampin' Up and the backing paper is from a Papermania stack. The Happy Birthday sentiment is also from Stampin' Up as is the ribbon. I am sure you have spotted that the roses are from Wild Orchid Crafts.

I have been admiring the fabulous projects the rest of the Design Team have made, why not take a peek for yourself and don't forget to enter your own work into the Challenge.

Friday, 26 April 2013

Today I want to share another card that I have made with one of the Saturated Canary rubber stamps from the Crafty Boots store. I know that I am part of their Design Team and you would expect me to say this but I genuinely love working with these stamps, they are just so easy to colour.

I recently went to my very first Baby Shower and needed a suitable card, I am sure you will agree that this image was just perfect. I have combined it with the 'Rain or Shine' stamp set from Stampin' Up and a lot of glimmer paper.

I coloured the Ice Cream and Pickles rubber stamp with Promarkers and, as we know it is a girl, I also coloured some of my Stampin' Up silver Glimmer Paper with a pink Promarker - doesn't it look fab?

I stamped the umbrellas from the Rain or Shine stamp set with various coloured inks and then cut them out, I curved the umbrellas and affixed them with Pinflair Glue Gel so they were supported. Once the glue gel was dry I coated them with Glossy Accents. The Baby Shower stamp is also from the Rain or Shine stamp set.

Tuesday, 23 April 2013

I knew I needed a card for a male friend for this week and, to be honest with you, I thought I had one. But, when I checked the only male cards I had were for sportsmen, one of a lad playing football and the other one playing golf, and this friend is not into sport.

I had to get the my card into the post and did not have a lot of time to make a card. So I set about making a very simple, quick card and this is it, not bad for the amount of time I spent making it!

The papers are by Papermainia and Stampin' Up and the stamped sentiment is also from Stampin' Up (I love this Happy Birthday stamp). Both the gold mirri and the gold flat backed gems are from my stash.

Monday, 22 April 2013

I have been tidying my blog and discovered that I had forgotten to post these pages from a wedding scrapbook I made to celebrate the wedding of the daughter of a dear friend. How could I have forgotten to publish these pages? Everything was completed but just sitting in draft, my apologies for the delay.

I did not want to publish any of the pages containing personal information, and there were quite a lot of those, so these are only a few of the pages from the album.

Friday, 19 April 2013

I am very excited today because this is my first project for the Crafty Boots store Design Team. There are so many wonderfully talented ladies on this team and it is such a trill to join them.

As you can imagine, I wanted something really special for my first DT project but deciding just what to do was so hard, there are just so many stamps available from the Crafty Boots Store.

Between you and me, I actually made several projects before deciding on the stamp for my inaugural piece. In the end I selected something from one of my favourite artists and chose Queenie and Princess from the Saturated Canary range.

I stamped the image on Crafty Boots Deluxe Crafter's Card and coloured it with Promarkers. I then layered it on papers from Papermania and Stampin' Up Glimmer Paper.

As this was my first project, I wanted to make it a little bit special, so I also made a matching candle.

I have never tried to colour the image for a candle before and was not sure whether it was possible to colour tissue with Promarkers, but as you can see, it worked really well. I can assure you that this will not be my last coloured candle.

Thursday, 18 April 2013

This time it is a small matchbox and I got the idea of the theme around St Valentine's Day.

I covered the box with paper and distressed it with Wild Honey and a little glitter. I added some silver net and a brad for a handle. The tiny rose buds are from Wild Orchid Crafts and the key has been in my stash for some time and I am afraid I cannot remember where I got it from.

Inside I added another single rose and a wooden red heart along with the rest of the sentiment.

Wednesday, 17 April 2013

As you know, for the past couple of weeks my amazing niece has been staying with us, we have really enjoyed her company and now she has returned home we are really missing her. Before going she treated me to one of Kim's Stampin' Up classes

I had a wonderful day and met some very lovely ladies. On top of which we made some really inspiring projects using the pinwheel die.

We made a little box to hold a Ferrero Rocher chocolate aka the chocolate in the gold foil wrap which the Ambassador spoils us with. I thought they would look nice at a summer dinner party - one at each guests place.

We also made a number of cards using Stampin' Up card and stamped sentiments.

The bunting stamps and dies are also from Stampin' Up.

Finally we made a calender and a box with a wrap.

I love this pinwheel die and the class gave me some great ideas for using it.

Monday, 15 April 2013

I hope you had a wonderful weekend. There is a rumour going around that spring is on its way and it is true that it has been a little warmer the last few days. But I am not entirely convinced, after all, it was only just over a week since it last snowed.

Today sees a new challenge at Crafty Boots Challenges, the gorgeous Gabrielle wants us to recycle something. You could use newspaper, cereal boxes, packaging, an old project you know you could improve, just let your imagination set your boundaries.

I decided to recycle an old matchbox.

I got the idea for this project from a YouTube clip, unfortunately the clip has since been removed, so I cannot share it with you.

First, I cut the box to make a lid, I used a Spellbinder die to create the shape along the edge, then I covered it with a pale green paper from Papermaina. I created little feet with four crystal buttons from Stampin' Up.

I decorated the top of the box with a large dragonfly charm and flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts. I also added some clear flat backed gems and trimmed the box with some pale green pearls.

The rest of the Design Team have been very busy creating some amazing projects, please take time to pop across to Crafty Boots Challenges and take a look.

Thursday, 11 April 2013

I used my Flexmarkers and Promarkers to colour the stamp and I added some Glossy Accents to the candle. I went over the pink frosting with a clear Wink of Stella pen to give it a lovely sparkly effect.

The matching papers and sentiment came from the House-Mouse Inserts CD and the contrast paper from a Docraft DC. The gems are from my stash.

Monday, 8 April 2013

As you probably know, the theme of the current Crafty Boots Challenge is 'Diamonds', because they are the birthstone for April.

When I created the card I posted on 1 April, I actually made a second card, just in case my design went horrendously wrong. Luckily it didn't but I was then left with the dilemma of which to use for my Design Team project.

This is the other card I made.

This image is called The Get Away and is from the Gorguss Girls range of stamps, which I bought from the Crafty Boots on-line shop. After colouring it with Promarkers and Wink of Stella pens I distressed it, just a little, with Vintage Photo ink.

I made a concertina shaped card. I then embossed some of my Crafty Boots Delux Crafters Paper with an Embossalicious folder and used some flat backed gems, glitter card and gold mirri from my stash to decorate the card. Finally I added a bow and three hat pins.

Thursday, 4 April 2013

It's another cold day here, just about everyone I talk to at the moment is really wishing for a little sunshine and to not feel cold for a change.

I have quite a few of birthday's at this time of year so I have a lot of cards to make. I think most of us have a hard time finding suitable images for the men in our lives and this Mo Manning image is going to get a lot of use over the next few weeks. He is called Mr Fixit.

I coloured him with Promarkers and WOS, I then mounted him on papers and silver mirri from my stash.

Monday, 1 April 2013

In celebration of the new month the lovely Amy has chosen the theme of 'Diamonds' for the current Crafty Boots Challenge because, as you probably know, as well as being a girls best friend, diamonds are the birthstone for April.

I could not decide whether to use the shape of a diamond for my card or the stone. In the end I went with a little of both.

As you can see, my diamond shape is more of a square set at an angle and my diamonds are actually clear flat backed gems.

I am not sure whether this photograph really shows the concertina shape of this card. (I am beginning to think that I need to sign up for a photographic course!)

This sweet little image is New Heights from the Gorguss Girls range of stamps, which I bought from the Crafty Boots on-line shop. After colouring it with Promarkers and Wink of Stella pens I distressed it, just a little, with Vintage Photo ink.

I then embossed some of my Crafty Boots Delux Crafters Paper with an Embossalicious folder and used some flat backed gems, glitter card and silver mirri from my stash. Finally I added a bow and three hat pins.

As ever, the rest of the design team have been beavering away creating some inspirational projects, please take a few minutes to have a look. Hopefully they will inspire you to enter your own 'Diamond' themed project.